University Education Should be Free for all Students- IELTS Writing Task 2
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The Essay Writing section of the IELTS Writing Module can be a difficult task for many IELTS Aspirants. Thus, it is vital that you polish your essay writing skills before attempting the IELTS.
Below is a sample IELTS Essay for the IELTS Essay topic:
University education should be free for all students. To what extent agree or disagree?
Outline
Essay Type
Opinion Essay
Introduction
Sentences 1&2 – Summarise the topic with the use of synonyms to create a basic understanding.
Sentence 3 – Mention that the essay will understand the need to make university education free.
Body Paragraphs
Paragraph 1 – Talk about how high university fees affect a family and its finances.
Paragraph 2 – Mention the benefits of making university education free, like high attending rates and upliftment of adjacent pointers like happiness index, etc. Mention relevant examples here.
Paragraph 3 – Acknowledge the flipper side of the argument, but talk about the unending advantages of making university education free.
Conclusion
Restate your views.
Sample Essay 1
University education is among the costliest “investments” a person can make. Consequently, there has been a cry to formalize a law to make university education free for everyone in recent times so that everyone can avail it. I feel this is a positive step, and this essay will expand my understanding of why I agree with it.
To begin with, university education costs can run well into hundreds of thousands of dollars, which may not be financially viable for every person. In a realistic scenario, even if a family is well off financially, this can become a burden as many will take educational loans to cover these costs. On top of this, books, accommodation, food, and other essentials are not factored in the tuition fees. Hence, such astronomical education costs can be a pecuniary nightmare.
On the same note, making university education cheaper really unfurls a wave of universal availing of higher education. For instance, many European countries’ public colleges charge zero for their courses. These countries, like Sweden, Germany, Finland, etc., show a very high rate of education, along with other pointers like high per capita income, high happiness index, and low tax evasion rates. Making university education free not only increases education across a country but has a positive direct and indirect effect on so many germane lifestyle pointers.
Some believe that countries, governments in general, benefit from high education rates, while others remark that free university education for all can become an obligation for the government. I feel that there are other means and ways of earning money, and earning money at the cost of a deserving person’s future is outrightly wrong. Additionally, making higher education free has one too many benefits to ignore.
Hence, university education should be free for all students keeping in mind that it is embezzled neither by the country nor the students.
Sample Essay 2
Having a qualification of tertiary education has become essential in the present. It is generally believed that universities should not charge any fees whatsoever. I agree with the given notion considerably, and I will support my angle of view in subsequent paragraphs.
To commence with the agreement side, providing tertiary education for free can elevate the education level of a whole country. To elaborate, providing free education will encourage more and more students to enrol in university courses. Students who cannot afford to pay university fees and, therefore, opt to get jobs after secondary education will also receive an opportunity to educate themselves further. More students enrolling in universities will increase education overall in a country.
Moreover, providing free university education can lead to a country’s prosperous economy. To make it clear, it is generally noticed that people, who are university graduates, have a pay scale significantly higher than that of high school graduates as university students have received specialized education in a specific field and have honed their skills within that particular field. Providing free tertiary education can encourage more and more students to enrol and specialize in a specific area which will help them to secure a hefty paying job. It will eventually help the country’s economy to grow further.
Now, looking at the disagreement side, if higher education is provided for free, students might take it for granted and start to avoid their duties. The number of university dropouts will increase as students have not paid any fees, and they are not losing anything financially by dropping out. There is a possibility that students may get swayed by the lousy influence of their peers and may get involved in immoral activities like bullying or drug trafficking without fearing expulsion as they have not paid any fees.
To conclude, providing free tertiary education can help a nation achieve greater heights in terms of education level and economy, but it may come with a price of students not taking the free education seriously because of not having to pay any fees.
Vocabulary
- Formalize
Meaning – give (something) legal or formal status.
Example – The government formalized a law to protect our right to privacy.
- Viable
Meaning – capable of working successfully; feasible.
Example – Motorsports are introducing viable financial plans amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Astronomical
Meaning – (of an amount) extremely large.
Example – The college tuition fees are astronomical.
- Unfurls
Meaning – make or become spread out.
Example – The ship unfurled its sails.
- Outrightly
Meaning – wholly and completely.
Example – The way he stood against the teacher was outrightly wrong.
- Embezzle
Meaning – to steal (money or property) despite being entrusted to take care of it
Example – .The conman embezzled a huge amount of money from the poor people.
- Pecuniary
Meaning – relating to or consisting of money.
Example – You should enrich your pecuniary knowledge and take care of your assets.
- Obligation
Meaning – bound to do certain things
Example – We have an obligation to fulfil our duties towards our parents and country.
- Evasion
Meaning – the act of avoiding something that you do not want to do or deal with
Example – Tax evasion is one of the prevalent crimes in our country.
- Germane
Meaning – relevant and appropriate
Example – His speech was germane to the event of the day.
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Kasturika Samanta
Post your Comments
6 Comments
Shahida
Posted on Apr 1, 2022
Having access to academic tuition at university is considered a basic right of everyone by some individuals and they believe that irrespective of their socioeconomic background students should get a chance to study free of charge. To my mind, introducing this idea in most societies may generate some social problems and can also result in universities losing their value.
Enabling general access to university education in the modern world can lead to a serious repercussion. To elaborate this, easily accessible academic training will attract huge numbers of students and this will cause imbalance between the number of job hunters and vacancies available. Consequently, the country might end up with a rising population of specialists with a university degree who are unemployed due to the limited number of jobs offered. Furthermore, charging no fees for tertiary education can change students’ attitude towards university education. In other words, it is highly likely that the opportunity to acquire free knowledge at higher education institutions may be taken for granted in a long-term run. As a result, universities might lose their status as a supreme source of obtaining quality education. To illuatrate this, my cousin was granted a chance to study for free by an organization which helped ambitious young people to achieve their dream of studying at higher institutions. Even though he was initially extremely excited about training at university his interest started to decline as he was not paying tuition fees himself and thus did not realize the value of free education. To sum up, free and easily accessible education at the university level has some drawbacks, namely, social problems like unemployment among specialists with a university degree and the change of students’ attitude towards higher education. Therefore, I believe that this is rather a negative development for the society.
Reply
kasturika
Posted on Apr 1, 2022
Band Score – 5
Concentrate on correct use of articles, punctuation and subject verb agreement.
Use more transitional words.
Since it is an opinion essay, you are also required to write one line of contrast after the two opinionated body paragraphs.
There is a lack of paragraph division. Please take care of it.
Iqbal singh
Posted on Apr 1, 2022
Some people propose the idea that the cost of tertiary education of all students should be borne by the government to make education more accessible. I, however, do not agree with this proposition because in my opinion, doing so will do more harm than good.
The first and the foremost argument to support my view is that sponsoring the higher education of all students will put an enormous financial burden on government’s shoulders. As government has to spend its limited resources on various crucial aspects of a nation’s growth such as providing health care, developing infrastructure and conducting social welfare schemes, bearing the cost of all prospective students will result in a severe shortage of funds. To generate more funds, the government will have to either levy heavier taxes or reduce its spending on other areas. In both scenarios, the one who will be at a disadvantage is the common man. For example, a raise in taxes will give birth to inflation which will make it extremely difficult for people to even afford basic needs. Similarly, a reduction in governmental spending on pivotal areas will make those people suffer who rely heavily on govermental support.
Yet another argument is that making third-tier education cost free will also result in the system being abused. With college education becoming free, universities will get flooded with non-serious students who will take admission for the sole purpose of enjoying student life. This will not only affect the decorum of universities negatively but will also result in universities producing graduates with severely limited knowledge. This, in turn, can prove to be a hindrance in a country’s progression as the development of any nation relies on how well educated its citizens are. On top of that, implementing this system will also lead to higher drop-out rates. When the students will realise that they are not bound to pay even a single penny from their own pocket, they will not hesitate in leaving their education in the middle and thus wasting governmental resources.
To conclude, without a doubt, providing university education to all is of paramount importance today to ensure the success of a nation, but making government bear its financial burden is not a judicious step as it will do more harm than any good. Nevertheless, the government must keep those students in mind who are either studious or extremely poor and help them in getting the college education by offering scholarships and interest-free loans.
Reply
kasturika
Posted on Apr 1, 2022
Band Score – 5
Since it is an opinion essay, you are also required to write one line of contrast after the two opinionated body paragraphs.
Concentrate on correct use of articles, verb forms and punctuation.
Use C2 level of words.
Swathi B
Posted on Feb 22, 2022
University education should be free for all students. To what extent agree or disagree?
Education is the key factor to assess the growth of an individual, society and a nation infact. It brings forth the innate talents of a person, thus making one capable and efficient. The more, the percentage of educated people in a country, the lesser the unemployment and the more developed it is. I believe that the education is also a basic necessity besides the food, clothing and shelter. But unfortunately, due to lack of money or facilities, many children are deprived of being educated. Hence ‘Free university education’ is need of the hour to break the shackles of unemployment and surge ahead.
I opine that each country has to set up an education fund from various taxes collected from the citizens. The best investment any country can make is in its future tax payers. Many destitute who cannot afford to meet the tuition fee expenses gets an access to education, thus increasing the average literacy rate of the country. The employment index goes high, thus increasing the number of tax payers which in turn increases the GDP. We come across many students who do part time jobs to earn a living and save money for studies. Such students can intensively and completely be dedicated to studies, if education is free.
Social equality is brought in the society irrespective of gender, caste, race, rich, poor etc. One can witness a rapid progress in technological innovations thus strengthening the roots of a nation. An educated society brings a major impact on the political system. Wise decisions can be made in electing the eligible and deserving leaders.
I find no significant and justifying reasons to disagree on this subject except for the one reason that some students might take studies for granted if it is provided at free of cost, although it might not be case with many.
To sum up, free education plays an integral role in success of an individual, society and nation as a whole. It helps for a country to grow financially, technologically and in allied areas.
Reply
Janice Thompson
Posted on Feb 22, 2022
Band score: 5
Concentrate on the usage of articles, prepositions
Use “c2” vocabulary